Digital Trends - "Lumos combines all the things most commuters use on a daily basis in an innovative and convenient way"

See what Bill Nye the Science Guy has to say about LUMOS! (yes really!)

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Safety Made Simple

It shouldn't be difficult or inconvenient to take care of your basic safety as a cyclist. Yet we frequently forget or misplace our lights, and drivers are often frustrated at the difficulty in both seeing and predicting where some cyclists want to go on the road.

Lumos is a next generation bicycle helmet that addresses these issues. Featuring integrated brake and turn signal lights, Lumos helps you more effectively communicate your intentions to drivers and people around you.

On the outside, Lumos looks just like a regular bicycle helmet. Until you turn it on!

Integrated lights

Have you ever left the house or office without your lights? Or maybe you’ve had your lights stolen? Thanks to Lumos, as long as you have your helmet, you will always have your lights with you.

Red lights at the back of the helmet are arranged to form a triangle, a commonly used warning symbol on the road.

Source of inspiration for the red triangle light design

White lights in front are arranged in a distinctive pattern in order to make you stand out better, whether it is from a driver's rear or side view mirror, or from a car coming in the opposite direction.

By being an integral part of your helmet, these lights are naturally higher, larger, more distinctive, and easier to see than traditional bicycle mounted lights.

Turn signals

Have you ever wondered whether the car driver behind you understands (or even sees) the hand signal you just gave?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt it was more important to have both hands on the handlebars than to continue holding out your hand to signal?

We did. Thats why we made turn signals an integral part of Lumos's design.

You activate the turn signals via an included wireless remote.

Once activated, bright yellow lights on the helmet turn on to form an arrow on the back, and a dash from the front to indicate the direction you wish to turn. Just press the button again to turn the signal off.

The remote is small and unobstructive. Mount the remote wherever makes the most sense for your bike and riding style and you're good to go! The Lumos helmet will automatically pair with the remote whenever you are in close proximity to it.

Automatic brake lights

Lumos comes with an integrated accelerometer. It senses when you slow down, and automatically turns all the rear lights bright solid red to signal that you are braking.

The brake lights activate any time you slow down so that you don’t have to think about it.

Rechargeable battery

Lumos comes with an integrated rechargeable battery inside. Recharge with the included micro USB cable just like you would with your phone. If you use Lumos for 30 minutes every day, each charge will last about a week.

Water resistant

What if it rains we hear you ask? Well, we have you covered. You shouldn't dunk Lumos into a pool, but Lumos is water resistant so you can take it out with you and stay safe come rain or shine.

Lumos meets the following bicycle helmet safety standards:

CPSC in the United States (CPSC 16 CFR Part 1203)

EN1078 in Europe

Lumos also meets all other requisite standards required of consumer electronic devices set by the FCC and CE.

FCC

CE

Will Lumos fit me?

At the end of the project, we will send out a survey to collect sizing information from backers. Lumos will come with a quick-adjust mechanism that will allow you to tighten and adjust the tension around your head to ensure a good fit. Lumos comes in two size and will fit heads between 54 - 62cm in circumference.

Backers will be able to choose from the above two colors in a survey after the campaign ends.

These limited edition Lumos helmets are brought to you by Lumos and Inkwell Helmets. Find out more about the back story at update #5!

Limited to 50 units! Get yours now before it runs out!

This isn't just a product. It's a movement.

Each year over 49,000 people get seriously injured while cycling, and over 700 die in the United States alone; a large number of them as a result of a collision with a motorist.

As cyclists ourselves we have had many experiences when we felt invisible to people around us, and unsafe.

We tried more lights, reflectors, and jackets, but hated how cumbersome it made our bike ride. Riding a bike should give you a sense of freedom. You shouldn't need to go through a checklist before you ride.

Our hope is that Lumos makes it easier for cyclists to stay safe while still keeping that sense of freedom that comes with riding your bike.

More than that, we hope that Lumos will play a role in the movement for better cyclist safety by helping motorist and non-motorist share the road more effectively and graciously, and so make cycling safer and a more viable option for more people to pick up.

The Lumos Team

The Lumos team consists of Eu-wen, Jeff, and Peter. Eu-wen and Jeff met at a weekend hackathon while we were both students at Harvard. Eu-wen pitched an idea for a bicycle helmet with lights, brake, and turn signals. We bonded over the idea and started working on building the prototype that same day. (We ended up winning the hackathon with the rough prototype we built that Sunday afternoon).

Peter is a veteran executive with over 20 years of experience in the helmet industry. He is also an expert in the materials used in helmet manufacture and has been intimately involved in the both the development and manufacturing of dozens of helmet models over the years. Adding Peter to our team as a key strategic advisor allowed us to take Lumos to the next level and translate our vision into a real, viable product.

With Peter's help, we've spent over a year working with a helmet manufacturer BEFORE coming to Kickstarter to ensure that we can deliver Lumos to you as promised.

This isn't our first time building and delivering a hardware product. We have extensive experience in mechanical engineering and product development. We have brought products to the market in the past and are proud to say that the products we built and designed in the past have been awarded prestigious awards including the INDEX Design to Improve Life Award, and the FastCo Innovation By Design Award.

We are incubated out of the Harvard Innovation Lab.

Lumos is Dragon Certified, which means that we had the manufacturing experts from Dragon Innovation thoroughly review our product and they have certified that we have a sound design and manufacturing plan.

Getting to this point has been a dream a long time in the making and we really appreciate your backing and support! We cannot do this without you!

Need help? We're here for you.

If you have questions at any time, during or after the campaign has closed, you can always reach us at info@lumoshelmet.co

Press

If you are interested in writing a story about Lumos, feel free to contact us at press@lumoshelmet.co and we would be happy to send along our media kit as well answer any questions you may have.

Risks and challenges

The primary engineering challenge is to integrate all the electronics into the helmet such that it still maintains its main function of absorbing impact in the event of a fall or collision.

This is something that we have been working on for many months now. We are very pleased to be able to report that our latest batch of prototype designs has in fact already passed our lab impact tests. This gives us a lot of confidence that our design at production will meet all safety and certification standards.

In any case, there is no risk that a unit we ship you is not safe. All units we ship must and will meet our quality control standards, as well as the requisite safety standards for bicycle helmets.

Another potential source of risk and challenge is encountering unexpected difficulties in assembly. Every new product will go through a teething process and ours will be no exception. Thats why we have selected a manufacturing partner that has been building helmets for over 20 years and developed literally hundreds of new products, models, and designs. Going through the manufacturing process is difficult, but our team and partners are more than up to the challenge.

A last challenge we want to flag is regarding the calibration of the brake light. We are mimicking the brake lights of a car here - but unlike a car, these brake lights activate automatically based on your motion. We have been testing extensively, but there could be unusual scenarios that we had not thought of in the real world that could cause the brake light to not work as accurately or precisely as we might like. We will be actively monitoring this issue however, and will absolutely respond to feedback from the backer community if they identify any unusual or unexpected behavior in the product that they receive.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $15 or more
About $15

DRIVER SUPPORTER: Want to support LUMOS but don't cycle? We still want you to be a part of this! You'll receive an awesome car decal of a bicycle to show off on your car (and identify yourself as a supporter and a friend to cycling). You'll also receive blow-by-blow updates as we bring LUMOS to life.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $85 or more
About $85

LUMOS SUPER EARLY BIRD: You've been following us for months now and we want to thank and reward you for your support!

For you our special friends, get one LUMOS helmet complete with integrated lights, motion sensors, and wireless handlebar remote at nearly 50% off the projected price at retail! You will also get all of our updates as we bring LUMOS to life. (add $15 for shipping)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $99 or more
About $99

LUMOS EARLY BIRD: You're here early! Get one LUMOS helmet complete with integrated lights, motion sensors, and wireless handlebar remote at a huge 40% off the projected price at retail!

Limited quantities available at this price and delivery schedule. Once the early bird units run out, prices will go up! You will also get all our updates as we bring LUMOS to life. (add $15 for shipping)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $99 or more
About $99

LUMOS HELMET KICKSTARTER SPECIAL: We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from the backer community! To celebrate our passing the $500K mark, we’ve decided to extend our $99 pricing for the rest of our campaign! Get one LUMOS helmet complete with integrated lights, motion sensors, and wireless handlebar remote at a huge 40% off the projected price at retail! (add $15 for shipping)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $99 or more
About $99

LUMOS HELMET KICKSTARTER SPECIAL: We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from the backer community! To celebrate our passing the $500K mark, we’ve decided to extend our $99 pricing for the rest of our campaign! Get one LUMOS helmet complete with integrated lights, motion sensors, and wireless handlebar remote at a huge 40% off the projected price at retail! (add $15 for shipping)

Pledge $199 or more
About $199

Those guys were badasses, and you can be one too. Get ONE LUMOS helmet branded with your own name and callsign of your choice. (Need ideas for a good callsign? Internets got your back. Check out: http://www.topgunday.com/call-sign-generator/)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $219 or more
About $219

LIMITED EDITION HAND PAINTED LUMOS HELMET: Lumos is already really cool. But with the designs from artist Danielle Baskin from Inkwell Helmets, your Lumos Helmet will be a beautiful work of art and fashion accessory!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

LUMOS HELMET BETA TESTER: Prior to our full mass manufacturing run, a small number of units will be made using our sample tools in late 2015. Most of these will be used for lab testing, but 50 units will be made for beta testing with real people for real use. These units will technically be pre-mass production units, but will be safe for use on the road.

As a beta tester you will get:
(1) Access to Lumos MONTHS ahead of everyone else
(2) Opportunities to provide your feedback and ideas to the Lumos team
(3) Individualized service
(4) The final production version of LUMOS on top of your LUMOS beta tester unit

See Update #8 from August 7th for all the details on what it means to be a beta tester!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $380 or more
About $380

QUADRUPLE LUMOS: Get FOUR LUMOS helmets for your family, cycling club, or friends! Comes complete with integrated lights, motion sensors, and wireless handlebar remote at over 40% off the projected price at retail!

You will also get all our updates as we bring LUMOS to life. (add $40 for shipping)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $2,500 or more
About $2,500

LUMOS ÜBER EARLY ADOPTER: Get involved in the creative process NOW! We are looking for five people who want to help test pre-production models and provide valuable feedback.

Immediately after the end of the campaign you will get an inside look to our development process, and get to be an intimate participant. You will receive one of the LUMOS helmet beta test units, help us refine the product, and explore creative possibilities before it hits the wider cycling community. If scheduling and your physical location make it possible, you'll get to meet the Lumos team and we'll go for a night bike ride together. You will also receive a final production version of LUMOS with custom callsign name when it ships.